In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Constantine 2 director Francis Lawrence has finally revealed the current progress of the long-awaited sequel to DC’s 2005 supernatural fantasy. Lawrence confirmed that the Keanu Reeves-led sequel will resume its development soon after Thanksgiving.
“It’s still the very beginning, as the strike put it on hold for a little bit,” Lawrence said. “So we’re probably going to start getting back together after Thanksgiving and dig back in to try and crack it.”
In addition, the blockbuster filmmaker also opened up about the “many obstacles” that the project has endured throughout its long development process.
“Me, Keanu, Akiva [Goldsman] have tried over the years to wrangle some control of the character again because it had been handed over,” Lawrence recalled. “I think NBC did a TV show, and then J.J. [Abrams] was going to try and do something. And then the regime at DC changed, and they’ve got their plans. But luckily, we managed to wrangle some control and started working on some ideas for Constantine 2, which we’re really excited about.”
What was Constantine about?
2005’s Constantine was loosely based on the DC Comics/ Vertigo Comics’ occult detective character created by Alan Moore, Steve Bissette. It centered around John Constantine, a warlock and exorcist who helps people with supernatural problems. Besides Reeves, the adaptation also starred Rachel Weisz as Angela Dodson, Shia LaBeouf as Chas Kramer, Tilda Swinton as Gabriel, Djimon Hounsou as Papa Midnite, and Peter Stormare as Lucifer.
The upcoming sequel will be written by Akiva Goldsman, with J.J. Abrams and Hannah Minghella serving as producers. Further details about the plot and characters are still being kept under wraps, but Lawrence previously revealed his vision to make the sequel a “real R-rated Constantine” movie.
